Ice Age Switcheroo: The Great Egg-Scape
by ninjagogirl luvs iceage21
Summary: Ah, spring. The time when flowers bloom and the weather becomes gorgeous again. For the herd, it's a time for all the eggs to hatch and new beginnings to spring forward. Also, it's Easter and everyone is getting ready for the Easter feast. When Roshan tells the herd that the Easter Bunny doesn't exist, can Cheril and the herd tell him a story that will change his mind? Rated K


ICE AGE SWITCHEROO

THE GREAT EGG-SCAPE

 **HERE IT IS. ANOTHER WONDERFUL HOLIDAY STORY FOR THE ICE AGE SWITCHEROOS. I LOVE EASTER JUST AS MUCH AS ALL THE OTHER HOLIDAYS.**

 **NOTE: I DO NOT OWN ICE AGE OR ANY OF ITS ORIGINAL CHARACTERS. I ALSO DO NOT OWN ANY ORIGINAL CONTENT OR WORDING OF THE SCRIPT. IT IS ALL OWNED BY BLUE SKY PRODUCTIONS.**

 **NOW ON WITH THE STORY. ALSO, PLEASE THANK Kenneth0. HE HAD GAVE ME THE IDEA OF A FLASHBACK STORY FOR A HERD'S CHRISTMAS. THIS IS ALSO KNOWN AS A FLASHBACK STORY, SO PLEASE THANK HIM AS WELL FOR THE FLASHBACK IDEA.**

 **NOW ENJOY THE STORY.**

It was a beautiful spring day. It was Easter day and everyone was getting ready for the big Easter feast. Colorful painted eggs were placed all over the island. Leaves dressed in spring cheer were decorating the trees. Even Scrat and Scratte were excited. Wait, that wasn't excitement. That was spring fever. Not just any spring fever. This was acorn fever. Those two were nuttier than all the acorns that they carried. Unfortunately it was too many to hold because they ended up dropping them all over a cliff. Scratte tried jumping over the cliff to get the nuts, but Scrat went sane for that amount of time and stopped his sweetheart from jumping over. Sometimes you can't understand those two squirrels.

Passing by them were Ellie, Shira and Brooke, who were the most excited about the feast. Nobody was more excited that Brooke was. "Oh, I can't believe it's already spring time. The flowers are blooming, the leaves are green once again, and the entire ice age is just dancing with glee at the season of new beginnings."

"It certainly is a beautiful time of the year," Ellie said, "But spring doesn't officially start until we hide all the painted wooden eggs all over the village and the Easter Bunny does his job and places something sweet inside."

"And spring doesn't start until all the newborn babies have been born and all the eggs have hatched," Shira said, "Any baby that comes during the spring is the start of something beautiful in the world. And they say that baby will have good luck for every spring."

"Really?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Oh, I wish my little ones were born around the beginning of spring," Brooke said, "Spring time would've given them good luck."

"I don't think they were gonna wait another three months, Brooke," Shira said.

"Hey, Brooke." Brooke turned around to see her husband Sid carry Easter decorations in one paw and the twins in the other paw. "Do you mind carrying something for me?"

Brooke giggled. "Sure, honey. Come to mummy, little darlings." She placed Stephen and Rose in her arms. The twins were carrying their Easter baskets. "You two look excited for the big egg hunt."

"What do the eggs look like, Mommy?" Rose asked.

"Are they as big as dinosaur eggs?" Stephen asked and starts roaring like a dinosaur.

Brooke giggled. "Well they're not that big, but they're a pretty good size."

They all heard a crash from all the trail and saw Gladys face first on the ground. The gelatin plate she was carrying splattered all over the place. She jumped up real quick and placed her face in Earnest's face. "Dang it, Earnest! You knew I was carrying a plate of gelatin! Why'd you go and trip me like that?"

"I felt like it," Earnest said, "That's right. You did the same thing around Christmastime. I'm just returning the favor."

"Alright, you two," Teddy said, "If you can't stop fighting, you might as well just separate from each other. Nobody wants to hear your bickering."

"Can't you guys just get along during the holidays?" Terrie asked.

"Can you just stop telling us to get along?" Gladys asked Terrie.

"That's it! I give up!" Terrie walked away from the trail.

Manny was walking down the trail with Diego when Buck came into view. "Hello, mammals. I was wondering if you've spotted any animals with spring fever."

"No, Buck," Manny said.

Buck continued to look around with his spy glass before he spotted something. "I see something in the distance. Two weird looking squirrels hanging from a cliff. By their uncontrolled movements and the look in their eyes, they are completely under spring fever. Gotta fly!" Buck scurried up a tree, climbed on a vine and started swinging away.

Diego rolled his eyes. "Sometimes I think he has spring fever."

Ricardo chuckled. "Good one."

The entire herd gathered around to start setting up the table for the big Easter feast. Ellie was jumping up and down in excitement. "Oh, I'm so excited. Spring is one of my most favorite seasons. The Easter feast is my favorite part, though."

"Why's that?" Shira asked.

"Because you can't start Easter without the Easter feast," Peaches said.

"That's right," Ellie said, "When we all get together to enjoy a big dinner together and celebrate new beginnings."

"Don't forget about the Easter Bunny," Manny said.

"You mean that rabbit we met a few years back?" Cheril asked.

"Wait a second," Roshan said, "Who's the Easter Bunny?"

"You've never heard of the Easter Bunny?"

"Not until now. Why is there a certain type of rabbit that's known for Easter? There's rabbits everywhere in this world."

"You've been around longer than I have. How do you not know the Easter Bunny?"

"He probably doesn't know the Easter Bunny because we were the one's that gave the rabbit that title," Junior said.

"We were the one's that created the Easter Bunny," Stripes said.

"I'm still confused," Roshan said, "How did you guys create the Easter Bunny? I mean come on, you guys. It feels like you're trying to pull my leg. Rabbits don't have a season to celebrate. They're just animals."

"What are you trying to say?" Bethany asked, holding her son John who was playing with a toy Easter egg.

"I'm saying that there's no such thing as the Easter Bunny."

"But we've seen him before," Louis said, "We helped him get his start."

"I'm sorry, but there's just no way I can believe that," Roshan said, "I don't think it's possible for a rabbit to hop around the place and put treats inside wooden eggs. There's no way that's possible."

"Mommy, Uncle Roshan's being a rotten egg," Rose said, "If he's rotten, the Easter Bunny won't leave him any eggs."

"That's right," Brooke said, "You better take back what you said, Roshan."

"I'm not taking back something that's as fake as the Easter Bunny is," Roshan said.

"The Easter Bunny is real," Stephen said.

Roshan groaned. "Why do they do this to me? You guys know I don't argue with little kids."

"I think you'll make a great father," Sid said.

"Shut up, Sid," Roshan said.

"Why don't we tell you the story of how we created the Easter Bunny?" Snow Belle asked.

"You can tell me whatever stories you want. I probably won't believe it."

"Looks like it's story time!" Brooke exclaimed, "Let's gather around everyone!"

Everyone gathered around the table sitting wherever they pleased. Manny looked around at everyone. "Okay, who wants to start off the story?"

"May I do the honors?" Cheril asked.

"Go ahead."

Cheril cleared her throat. "Okay, here we go. It all started a few years ago on the day before Easter and everyone in Switchback Cove were getting ready for the first day of spring."

A flashback appeared to a few years back on the day before Easter.

 **A FEW YEARS AGO** :

 _Ellie: It was the day before Easter. The entire village was getting everything ready for the first day of spring._

 _Shira: Ellie and I were trying to stay in the holiday spirit and we were teaching Peaches and Snow Belle everything they needed to know about the importance of Easter and why we celebrate. We were basically trying to teach them that it was a day to be with family._

The story starts with Ellie and Shira walking down the trail carrying Easter decorations. Snow Belle and Peaches were doing the same thing as they followed their mothers. They didn't really have much interest for the spring holiday. Teenagers like them are more worried about hanging out with friends which is exactly what they had planned.

"Oh, I'm so happy," Ellie said, "I love spring in the ice age."

"Oh, the colors, the changing of seasons!" Shira said, "Isn't it wonderful, girls?"

The girls gave bored expressions as they looked out at the valley. Nothing but snow as far as they could see.

"Yeah, I hardly recognize the place," Peaches said.

"What's the point in celebrating a spring holiday in the ice age?" Snow Belle asked Peaches, "How can someone celebrate the change in season if all you ever see is winter everywhere?"

Ellie sat all the food down on the table. "Of course, spring doesn't really start until the eggs hatch and the newborn babies come. And..." She wanted the teenage girls to finish up the sentence.

"Please don't make us say it," Snow Belle said.

"Come on, girls," Shira said.

Snow Belle and Peaches sighed as they said in unison, "And you can't start Easter without our Easter feast."

"That's right, with the family all together," Ellie said, getting the jam ready.

"Which sounds amazing!" Snow Belle said.

"But we made plans with our friends," Peaches said.

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Someday you both are gonna have families of your own."

"And then you'll both know the importance of getting everyone together on the holidays," Shira said.

"I don't even know if I want that," Peaches said.

"Me, neither," Snow Belle said.

Ellie dropped the masher as she stared at the teenage girls in disbelief. Did they really just what she thought they said? Her husband needed to know about this. "Manny, come out here! Your daughter is talking nonsense!"

"Diego, I think our daughter has spring fever," Shira shouted out to her husband.

"Girls!" Manny shouted, "We're in the man's cave watching the hawks-bears game!"

"We're rooting for the hawks!" Diego said, "Did you take Snow Belle's temperature?"

"She's not sick!" Shira shouted

"We'll help when we get back," Peaches said, kissing her mother on the cheek while sneaking some jam.

"Promise," Snow Belle said as she kissed her mother on the cheek.

The two girls hurried off, their mothers giving their daughters worried glances.

 _Manny: Meanwhile, me, Diego, Sid and the possum twins were watching with intense focus of the hawks-bears game._

The guys were in deep concentration of the game, watching it through a show hole. It was almost like a 3D show considering that the hawks were flying inside the cave, trying to beat the bears.

"Come on, hawks!" Diego cheered.

"This is it, folks, it's sudden death," said the game announcer. When he said that, Crash and Eddie played dead and fell into the snack bowl.

"Guys, every time?" Sid asked the possum brothers.

"They're in formation and here they go!" the announcer said.

"Bears rule!" Crash shouted.

"Whoo-hoo!" Eddie cheered.

"Hawks on the attack!" Manny said. The guys huddled up together to see what would happen.

"Here comes fuzzy wuzzy," the announcer said, "He...Ooh! Holy mastodon! That was sudden!"

"Game over," Diego said, "Hawks lose." He saw his brothers tangled up in fighting. "Why don't you guys go help your sister-in-law with the Easter feast?"

"Easter, Sschmeaster, chicken Keister!" Crash said, "Possums are launching our own holiday."

"April possum day!" Eddie said, "A celebration of all things prank and possum."

"If it's about you guys, why not call it April fools'?" Sid asked.

"Ouch! I like it," Crash said, "Now, who will be the first fool?" They walked over to Sid who had a wooden club in his paws, ready to hit the possums over the heads if they tried anything. "Peaches and Snow Belle!"

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Eddie said, "Let's go find our nephews and their friends." The two possums walked out of the cave.

"Manny! Diego!" Ellie called out, "We could use another trunk and an extra set of paws up here!"

Manny sighed as he leaned over to Diego. "Let's go watch the falcons-hornets game at your den."

"Yeah, but Ricardo's sleeping," Diego said, "He went out all night hunting with his pack friends."

"The cougars guys?" Manny asked.

"Yep. Hey Sid, mind if we watch the game at your place?"

"Sure," Sid said, "Brooke won't mind. Bring some nose plugs."

"Nose plugs?" Manny asked.

"Yeah, Brooke's been doing what she calls spring cleaning and now the whole place has a strong scent of flowers."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Diego said.

"Not if you like getting a migraine every five minutes," Sid said, "Come on. Let's go."

 _Brooke: Unfortunately for the guys, I had something planned over at mine and Sid's place._

 _Sid: What I saw was something I never thought I'd never see._

"Oh, boys, I'm touched you want to watch the game here with Sid, but... you can't because, you see, it's my grand opening!" Brooke explained as she had nest and baby cradles built all over the living room.

"Nothing about the things you do is grand, Brooke," Manny said.

"Well, if you recall, I once ran a daycare."

"If you recall, you were never there most of the time. That turned out to be a disaster."

"And then I nurtured three beautiful dinosaur eggs."

"Disaster," Diego said.

"And then I thought, who has time to sit on their egg all day?" Brooke said, "Me! So, I'm opening a pre-hatched pre-school. Egg sitting. I sit on your egg."

"Future disaster," Manny said.

"Wow," Sid said, "And not one single parent has entrusted their egg to you yet."

"No, can you believe that?" Brooke said, "And I asked everyone, too."

"Brooke, are you doing this because you want us to have kids one day?"

"Well, that's part of it."

"Ashley, stop sniffing him," said a mother sloth, "It's embarrassing!"

"Looks like they just moved in," Brooke said, "I'll be back."

The pink fur mother sloth was having a tough time controlling her five kids. Plus she had an egg in the stroller she rolled around. She looked up at the sky. "Please, give me strength." Then she saw one of her kids doing something they weren't supposed to. "Ahhh! Dylan! Don't eat that, it's already digested."

"Uh, excuse me, ma'am?" Brooke said, walking over to the mother.

"Hmm?" The mother looked at Brooke.

"I can't help noticing that you just migrated..."

"Savannah!" The mother caught her daughter playing in the mud.

..."so you know nothing about me," Brooke finished.

"Savan..." The mother looked at Brooke. "Wait, what?" Then she gasped. "Rachael!"

"It wasn't me!" the little sloth named Rachael said.

"The skinny one! Matthew! Spit that bug out! Right now!" The mother looked at Brooke again. "What on earth are you saying?"

"I know it's hard to manage, what, with today's two-hunter families," Brooke said.

"Only one hunter here," the mother said, "My mate's six inches buried in the ground. And my best friend ended up falling off a cliff and I'm now the single mother of five little sloths and a red ostrich that hasn't hatched."

"That's great!"

"What?"

"I mean, I mean, I feel your pain. So, um, let me ask you...Who'll watch your egg while you scavenge to feed your young mouth to mouths?"

"Excuse me. I'm not a bird."

"You know what I mean. I'm basically your only option. And really, think about it. What could possibly go wrong?"

The mother gave it some thought and nodded. "Alright. But I'm putting my trust in you." She handed Brooke the egg.

Brooke smiled. "I promise that you won't be disappointed."

Manny and Diego looked at each other. Sid sighed. "This is gonna end up turning bad."

Underground, there was a familiar rabbit name Squint who was doing push-ups while another rabbit was sitting on a hay bed eating carrot chips.

Squint had finally finished his exercising regimen, feeling refresh. He looked at the other rabbit. "Yo, I been stuck down here for three months hangin' out. I got my sea legs back. Time to set sail!

"Come on, you just got home!" the rabbit sitting on the hay said, "Stay! We got it made here. We sleep all day, we game all night. Mom, like, she picks up all our droppings, dude."

"Can one of you take out the trash?" the rabbit's mother asked.

"Mom! In a minute! I'm busy!" Clint smiled at his brother. "I love that woman."

"Clint!" Squint said, "This hole is your whole universe. And that's cool. You're a late bloomer. Whatever. I am a pirate. I don't judge. But there's a whole world out there to pillage and plunder. You can sit here with your late bloomin', I'mma get to pillage and plunderin'."

"Okay...well...every time you scheme something, you end up back here, at rock bottom," Clint said.

"Yeah, but this time's gonna be different. I'm gonna bounce. Here we go!" Squint looked through a spy glass that he made that is connected from inside the rabbit hole to the surface above. He gasped. "There!"

"What?"

"It's them! Watch out! They sank my ship! All because I tried to kidnap and, well, maybe dump 'em at sea. Anti-pirate jerks. Payback time." Squint started making his way out of the rabbit hole before his mother hollered to him.

"If you're going out, take your brother!" his mother said.

"Mom!" Squint shouted, "I'm not taking him!" He scurried off towards where Brooke was. It was time for a little vengence.

 _Brooke: Even though the guys said that I would be a lousy egg-sitter, my business was already starting to boom._

Brooke was handling with lots of animals who were in need of someone to help take care of their eggs. Manny, Diego and Sid just stood there and watched her.

"Of course I have space for little Jessica!" Brooke told a mother tortoise, "My motto is...'Long as you've got an egg and a newborn, I've got a place to sit and watch.'Next!" A male horned beaver walked up to Brooke. "Who referred you?"

"Jane the sloth did," the horned beaver said, "She said you had the most trustworthy eye she's ever seen. You see, my little egg is my whole life, my miracle."

"Well, yeah! I should say so. So, how did you, um..." Brooke was confused on how a male beaver ended up with an egg.

"I adopted."

"Oh!"

At that moment, Ellie and Shira walked by. Shira was pretty shocked to see what was going on. "What's happening here?"

"Brooke's got a dozen eggs in her care," Manny said, "This is not gonna go over easy."

"It's like the future of the ecosystem is in Brooke's hands," Diego said.

"It looks worse than that," Shira said, "It's under Brooke's butt."

"Shira," Ellie said, "Why are you like this whenever Brooke does these types of things?"

"It's not that I don't appreciate the things Brooke does. It's just that...she's weird when it comes to these types of things."

"She must have some sort of reason for doing this," Sid said.

"Reason for doing what?" Cheril came by looking the same as she normally did. She was eating an apple as she saw what was going on. "Why does Brooke have a bunch of eggs? And why are there newborn babies in those rocking cradles?"

"Brooke's egg-sitting and watching newborn babies," Ellie said.

Cheril took another bite of her apple and rolled her eyes. "This is gonna end in a disaster."

"Don't we all know it," Diego said.

"Hey!" They all heard a shout and looked to see Squint looking at them with eyes full of anger. "You hose-faced, trunk-toothed beast and small tail carnivore! Remember me?"

"Peter cottontail?" Manny said.

"That is insulting to my species! I'm here for the new ship you owe me!"

"What are you talking about?" Diego asked.

"Oh, let me refresh your memories," Squint said, "Last time we met, you beat, outsmarted, and humiliated me. So the way I see it, you owe me a new ship."

"Beat it, bunny," Manny said, "We don't owe you bupkis."

"Ha-ha!" Squint ran up to Manny and started punching his small fist on the male mammoth's trunk. It didn't have any affect on Manny, though.

"What is he doing?" Manny asked.

"I think...he's attacking you?" Diego said.

"Attacking?" Shira snorted. "Exfoliating, maybe."

Manny picked Squint up and threw him inside an empty tree stump like the rabbit was a piece of garbage that needed to be thrown away. Squint gave them all a stern look. "Y'all haven't heard the last of me! I'll be back for my new ship!"

Meanwhile, Brooke was trying to get the babies in their cradles to sleep and make sure the eggs were comfortable. "Nap time! Oh, my gosh, you're so cute! Sleep, sleep. You want back tickles? Oh, you have a big day tomorrow! Now, how are you gonna come outta your shell, little eggs, and how are you sweet little babies gonna stay healthy if you don't rest? Oh, I know! I know, I know. I'll tell you the story my mum used to tell me all the time. It puts me right to sleep. Okay. 'Humpty dumpty sat on a wall...'" Before Brooke could finish, she was hit in the back of the head with a rock and fell to the ground.

Squint chuckled like the crazy rabbit he was. "And the lucky bunny stole them all." He took all the eggs and left the newborn mammals alone. The eggs were more fragile than the babies. "Oh, you're poached!"

"'And all the king's horses and all the king's...'" Brooke blurringly looked at what was Squint's form and thought it was someone who shone brighter than the sun. "Oh, I like your sunny side." At that moment, she passed out.

Squint gave an evil smile. "I'm gonna put you up! Egg roll! Tomorrow I'm gonna cash in my nest egg for a big ol' pirate ship to sail away in!" He hid all the eggs and drew out a map behind the ransom note that he placed in a bush. He went to hide all the eggs. He had a feeling that this plan would be a piece of cake.

 _Crash: Meanwhile, me, Eddie and our nephews along with their friends were creating the greatest April Fool's Day prank of all time._

 _Eddie: You mean the first April Fool's Day prank of all time._

 _Crash: Yeah, whatever._

Crash and Eddie had just put the finishing touches on the best prank of all time. Junior, Stripes, Julian, Laurence and Louis were watching as the possum brothers created a sticky glue made of honey and tree sap.

"First pranking is a rite of passage for every possum," Crash said.

"Peaches and Snow Belle get to be the first April fools in history," Eddie said, "They're both gonna be so happy."

"Why do we have to prank my girlfriend?" Laurence asked, "I mean do we really have to. There's no reason to."

"We always have a reason to prank our sister," Junior said.

"Yeah," Stripes said, "She can be fiesty even when she's not supposed to be."

"Well can we at least leave Peaches out of this?"'Julian asked, not wanting to face the wrath of his girlfriend.

"Please," Louis begged.

"No way," Junior said, "She goes along with everything Snow Belle does."

"Shh!" Crash said, "Here they come!"

They all hid behind some trees. Eddie snickered. "We're the best prankers ever!"

"Shh!" Junior said, "Don't let them hear us!" They all stayed quiet as Snow Belle and Peaches passed by.

"I can't believe Ethan," Peaches said, "The moment he breaks up with Steffie, he runs off and asks Katie out on a date. What does Katie have that Steffie doesn't?"

"Peaches, Ethan's one of those males that goes after different flavors of snow cones. First he'll want cherry and then he'll want grape. Steffie has beauty, but not enough brains. Katie has brains, but...well I can't say that she doesn't have beauty. She has the same amount as Steffie does. I'm not saying Steffie's dumb. It's just that she doesn't think before she acts."

"That's true. I still can't believe it, though. Ethan is so rude."

While they were talking, they walked past the sticky golden glue without even stepping in it. As they walked away, Crash and Eddie stood there, their mouths agape.

"But I... I don't get it!" Crash said, "We set a vicious booby trap for our niece and Peaches."

"We did everything right here!" Eddie said, "Maybe your glue's no good." At that moment Eddie stepped in the glue, getting his feet stuck.

Crash smirked. "Told you my glue is good!" Crash ended up stepping into the glue as well. "Whoa!"

"Crash?"

"What's happening? Eddie?" The two possums continued swimming around in the glue while the other guys just watched.

"Do you think we should help them?" Louis asked.

"Nah," Junior said, "They sticked themselves into this problem."

Stripes started laughing. "I get it! Sticked!"

"Stop it!" Crash yelled at Eddie.

"You stop it!" Eddie yelled. They continued stuggling until they found out that they were completely stuck. Eddie groaned. "It's good glue."

"Thank you." Crash smiled, knowing the effects that led them into their predicament. "It's incredible!" The two sat there in the sticky mess, waiting for the other guys to help them.

 _Brooke: Meanwhile, I had just woken up from an unconscious nap to see that all the parents who had eggs were staring right at me._

Brooke had woken up and was staring face to face with all the parents. She shrieked in terror. Luckily nothing happened to the babies, thank goodness. She had noticed that the eggs were gone and their were some angry parents.

"Where are our eggs?" Jane the sloth said.

"I don't think she knows where the eggs are," one of the parents said.

"I told you we shouldn't trust her," another parent said.

"Well, maybe it's senior ditch day," Brooke said.

"How is that even possible?" Jane asked.

"Wow, I mean, they are deceptively quick for oblongs. You close your eyes for one second and they wobble off."

"You lost them? I trusted you with my egg! And I got them to trust you too!" Jane pointed to the other animals behind her.

"Do you have any idea, as a single-parent dad..." the horned beaver said, "The hoops they made me jump through to adopt?"

"It took me all day to become the godmother of that egg!" Jane said, "I have to sit up for twenty-four hours to make sure that egg is nurtured and warm. I promise Opal that if something happened to her, I would love and protect her baby as much as she would've been able to. Have you ever given birth to something that weighs half a ton? Or have you ever given birth to something about five times who's eyes stick out by the side of their head?"

"No," Brooke said, "Sadly, nature hasn't seen it fit to bless me with that experience just yet. Plus I'm still dating someone."

"Well, you're about to find out how it feels." All the animals grabbed Brooke by the limbs and started pulling her. "Pull!"

"Go ahead. I deserve it." Brooke decided to live through the torture she was receiving.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sid said, walking up to the mammals that were pulling Brooke, "Please release the sloth."

"What's going on here?" Ellie asked.

"Brooke lost our eggs," Jane said.

"What about the newborn babies?" Cheril asked.

"The newborns are fine. It's the eggs that are lost."

"I knew Brooke would screw this up," Shira said.

Ellie smacked Shira in the back of the head and looked at the mad parents with sympathy. "Look, look, we'll find your eggs and we'll get them back by morning."

"Or you can draw and quarter her tomorrow." Ellie gave Shira a stern look. "I'm not saying they should."

"Can we tar and feather her?" one of the parents asked.

"No!" Sid shouted, "It'll get all over my cave."

"What if we feed her to the reptile!" another parent said.

"Get that horny toad!" Jane said.

"You just had to say that, didn't you?" Ellie asked Shira. She walked over to the animals. "Look, I appreciate your ideas, but Brooke didn't take your eggs!"

"Then who did?" Jane said.

"Hey, look!" Manny said, he and Diego bringing a leaf with something scribbled on to the others, "We found something!"

Ellie looked at it. "It's a ransom note. Get me a ship by tomorrow or the eggs get scrambled."

Jane gasped. "The pirate took our eggs! You brought this trouble here. Just give him a new ship!"

"We can't negotiate with a pirate," Diego said, "He'll just keep doing it."

"Wait, wait!" Jane shouted, pointing her clawed finger at a rabbit that looked like Squint, but it was actually his brother Clint, "It's the pirate! Get him!" The parents ran over to Clint, ready to beat him to a pulp.

"Wait, wait, wait, no, I'm not him!" Clint shouted, "That's my brother. No, he hid this!" Clint showed the animals a treasure map. "In our rabbit hole. It's a treasure map to the eggs. You see, pirates, they like to hide things...and draw maps to find them, like, later. I don't know. I know what pirates do."

"Why did you bring this to us?" Sid asked, not trusting Clint since he was Squint's brother.

"My family's made its hole in this valley for 13 generations. That's almost four years! For once, I gotta make things right. You know? For my family."

"We gotta get those eggs back," Brooke said, "I napped, and they got egg-napped. Ellie, we have to help those families."

"Brooke, this is your chance to make things right," Ellie said.

"Thanks, Ellie. You're wise beyond your size."

"Okay, we got ourselves an egg hunt!" Manny said, "Let's search every tree hole, rabbit hole, watering hole, and ice hole in this entire valley. We'll find them. I promise."

"Hey, don't you want to follow the map?" Clint asked, seeing that Manny didn't take the map.

"Map, Schmap. We have a D.T.S. Diego tracking system."

"My nose, and these instincts, can't miss," Diego said.

"They just did," Clint said.

"Huh?" Diego was confused. How could his sense of smell miss anything?

"According to this map we don't need, there should be one right...here!" Clint found an egg inside a small cave behind some patches of grass. "Eggs marks the spot."

"Painting and hiding eggs?" Shira said, "It's insidious. Who would do such a thing? This is like finding an ice cube in a glacier."

"I found another one," Brooke said.

While they were on a wild egg chase, Squint was giving orders to some hyraxes in order to take the ship that once belonged to his crew out of the large inside ice cave that it was in.

"All right, a little more to the left," Squint ordered, "No, center. Okay, to the right, to the right. Okay, no, no, no, no. Okay, a little more to the left, a little south, a little south."

Back with the other mammals, Brooke had found another egg completely covered in chocolate on the outside. She tasted a bit of it. "It's chocolate. Should weigh just about the same. Who knew that chocolate tastes best in egg form?" She was enjoying the chocolate so much that she almost dropped the egg. "Whoa!" She almost let it fall before Sid caught it.

"Brooke," Sid said.

"Yes, Sidney?" Brooke started twirling her wavy hair around her clawed finger.

"Yeah! We got 'em all!" Clint exclaimed, "This is the last egg. That's every single one on the map."

"Aw, Clint!" Squint said, not happy with his brother, "Finally got off your cottontail just to bite me in the back. Okay." Squint actually had all the eggs in his possession. All the other eggs that the herd members and the worried parents were searching for were made out of candy. He pointed to the traps he set up close to some palm trees that look like they could trap an animal in the blink of an eye. "Those traps are on a hare-trigger. One goes off, they all go off!" He looked through the spyglass to spot Jane. "Soon as she comes up, pow! Genius! But why would she come here? Simple. I left her a note?" Squint realized that he didn't leave the note for Jane to find. "Shoot. Looks like we might be here for a while!"

Jane was so desperate to find her egg that she kept thinking that anything could be it. She gasped when she saw something round in front of her. "My baby! My little miracle!"

"I am not your miracle," said the snail that was inside his shell, "Could you just put me down?" Jane threw the snail off into the distance and screamed to the top of her lungs in fear and panic. This caused the other parents to scream as well when they found out that their eggs weren't even real eggs. They were candy and chocolate in the shape of eggs.

"We can't panic like this," Ellie said.

"We've gotta panic like this!" Jane shouted, "We're never gonna see our eggs again!"

Manny sighed, knowing what had to be done. "We gotta build him that ship. I know you're worried about your families. I've been there. But my guys always come through."

"Look!" Brooke shouted, pointing up at the sky, "It's them! They're back!" Brooke was pointing at some flying hyraxes on airplane leaves. They all had eggs with them as they gave them all to Brooke. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you!" She hugged the leader of the hyraxes. She returned the eggs to their rightful owners. "Neither ice, nor more ice, nor dark of night would keep us from returning every last egg." When Brooke got to Jane, she saw that she ran out of eggs. "Except yours."

"My egg's missing?" Jane asked.

"But we found every egg on the map!" Clint exclaimed.

"Oh, no. My poor little egg! Never even got a chance to drive me crazy! Oh, why? Why me?" Jane started crying. "I promised my friend. Oh, how I promised her."

"You fools!" Everyone turned their attention to Squint. "Oh, you really think I'm gonna put all my eggs in one basket? You have until sunrise to build me my ship...if you ever want to see your precious egg again!" He scurried away with the last remaining egg.

Ellie looked at the sun. They had spent all night trying to find the eggs. "Oh, no! It's one hour to sunrise. We're not gonna make it."

"We still got an hour," Brooke said, "Our hour."

"Hour hour?" Diego asked.

"So that's two hours," Shira said.

"No, it's the hour that belongs to us!" Brooke said, "Look, despite new evidence that suggests I should not work in child care...when we work together, we can fix any mistake I make."

Brooke's right," Shira said, "Look, we had a setback. Let's start over and get this done."

"Count us in," Jane said, "We'll stop at nothing until every egg is safe."

While they all started getting the ship built, Clint was able to find his brother. He would do whatever it took to convince him to stop this madness.

"Dude, stop, all right?" Clint told his brother, "This is kind of getting out of hand."

"I'm not giving up that egg, Clint," Squint said, "Not without a ship."

"What about our home? Our family? What about us? Your own fluff and blood."

"You gave up on loyalty the moment you gave up my map!"

"We're bunnies! Okay? We're soft, we're cute, we're cuddly. We got button noses and fluffy tails...hand-crafted by nature to make everybody go, 'aw!' And you found a way to make the whole animal kingdom hate us in one day!"

"You need everyone to love you! Here's you. Squint started intimidating his brother. "'Oh, that's okay, I don't need to be tough and strong. I'll go hide in a hole.' That's you. Here's me. I win!

Clint had had enough of his brother's pirate ways. "Well, fine. Have it your way. They built you a ship."

Squint looked through the spyglass to see if Clint was telling the truth. "They're doin'...they're buildin'...they're building it? No! Hah! If you think I'm gonna tell you where that egg is, you're nuts." Squint ended up uncovering the hiding spot of the egg.

Clint gasped. "The egg!"

"Uh-oh." Squint tried to prevent his brother from taking the egg, but Clint was quick and took it when the pirate least expected it. "No!"

Clint ran off with the egg and made his way over to the herd and the other animals, holding the egg. "I got it, I got it!"

Jane gasped in relief. "My nest egg!"

"Head's up!" Ellie shouted when she saw Squint, "Come on!"

Squint stood in front of Clint. "Surprise!"

"Oh, please!" Clint shouted.

Before Squint could take the egg from Clint, Sid came up and unexpectedly took it from Clint, who was expecting it. "Got it!"

"Whoa!" Brooke said, "Did you see that?"

"I got it!" Sid exclaimed, but then Squint came up and tackled him, making him drop the egg.

"My egg!" Jane shouted in fear.

Brooke hopped into a tree. Ellie saw what she was doing. "Brooke!"

"Sneak attack!" Brooke said, "Do-si-do! Spring thaw!" She did all these moves as she jumped on the ice upon the cliff and caught the egg. She also realized that the rising sun was causing the ice to become slippery. "The ice is melting!"

"Give me that egg!" Squint said.

Before Brooke could fall from the ice, Sid slid down just in time to land on the ground and catch her, the egg safely in her arms. She looked at her boyfriend. "Sid! You caught me!"

"What do you mean?" Sid said, "I'm always there to catch you when you fall."

"Ah!" They all saw Squint get caught in some sticky glue. Well, it was actually his tail that got stuck. "Darn bunny tail!"

"You're the first April fool!" Crash shouted in glee, hanging upside down on a tree branch.

"We did it!" Eddie said, fist pumping his brother, "April fools!"

 _Brooke: After we finally stopped Squint, we returned to the village to watch all the new eggs hatch._

All the parents were happy to finally have their eggs back. All the eggs started to hatch. Jane had tears of happiness in her eyes when she saw her new little boy ostrich. "Mama."

"Hello there, little one," Jane said, "Kids! Come look at your little brother."

"Oh, he's so cute!" one of the kids said.

The male horned beaver saw his new baby salamander hatch from her egg. "Oh, my goodness, aren't you the most beautiful thing? My miracle!"

Peaches and Snow Belle watched a cute little baby bird hatch from its egg. Peaches smiled, tears of happiness welling in her eyes. "Mom! Look! Come here."

"Mom, you have got to see this cute little guy," Snow Belle said, getting emotional with happiness as well.

"Peaches and Snow Belle?" Ellie said, "Are you both crying?"

"You got us," Peaches said, "Family's cool. You might even get to be a grand-mammoth someday, Mom."

"Same with you, Mom," Snow Belle said, "Except you'll be known as a grand-saber."

"Manny, come out here," Ellie called out to her husband.

"Diego, come here." Shira did the same thing.

"Huh? What?" Manny said.

"What's wrong?" Diego asked.

"Your daughter's finally starting to make sense, Manny," Ellie said.

"Okay, I know you and Peaches want to be with your friends, Snow Belle so go and have a good time," Shira said, "And I know the eagles show is starting, Diego. Go watch it with Manny and Sid."

"No way," Diego said.

"Yeah, mom," Snow Belle said, "We're having Easter feast all together."

"As a family."

"Don't forget about us," Junior said as he and Stripes walked over to their family.

"Yeah," Stripes said, "We're part of this family, too."

"Brooke, I gotta ask," Sid said, "Why did you start this whole thing in the first place?"

Brooke sighed. "I guess I must confess. Sid, one day I want to become a mother to children of my own so I thought that taking care of eggs would help me learn what it's like to be a parent. I know it's not easy, but all I want to do is be a good mother one day. I just don't want to mess it up."

"Brooke, you're already as great as you're gonna get." Sid embraced his girlfriend. "No matter what happens, I'll always love you."

"Even if I do things that are considered dumb."

"Well, I'll admit that I do dumb things, too."

Brooke giggled as she let go of Sid and walked over to Clint. "You know, it was kind of fun having an egg hunt. Maybe we should paint eggs and hide them every year! Hey, you know what? You're awesome with eggs. Now, what do you think of this? The Easter...Bunny!"

"You mean like a job?" Clint asked, "Would I have to wear a stiff suit?"

"No, your birthday suit is perfect."

Clint laughed with excitement as he ran back to his rabbit hole. "Mom, I got a job!"

"What do bunnies have to do with Easter?" Shira asked, "Or eggs. Or painting. I'm sorry, that could never catch on."

"Just go along with it, Shira," Cheril said.

"Where do you keep running off to?"

"I don't know, but I'm glad to see that everything turned out well in the end." Cheril took a bite of her apple. "So what did I miss?"

"Oh, I'm gonna get business cards," Clint said, "I'm the Easter Bunny! Perfect!"

Meanwhile, back out at the ocean, Squint was having trouble keeping his ship floating since it was made of ice and it was melting. "The ship is terrible! Not seaworthy! Bunny overboard!"

 _Cheril: And that was the last time we ever saw Squint. Some say he left the village to wallow in a hole on the other side of the island due to his failure attempts of being a pirate. Thus was how the Easter Bunny know as Clint came to be._

 **END OF STORY**

"And so, in the end, everything turned out wonderfully," Cheril said, "And so ends another fantastic adventure." Everyone applauded to Cheril, who took a bow. "Thank you. Thank you. It wasn't easy, but I did it, anyway."

"That was wonderful, Cheril," Bethany said.

"I think this herd tells the best stories," Louis said.

"You think?" Junior asked.

"Okay. You guys tell the best stories."

"That's better," Stripes said.

"I still think it all sounds fake," Roshan said, "I'm not gonna believe that you guys created the Easter Bunny. And how were you supposed to know, Cheril? You were pretty much gone the whole time. Where were you?"

"I was a teenager back then, Roshan," Cheril said, "I went and hung out with people and animals. What else am I supposed to do with my time? Besides, Shira told me everything and I've seen Clint hide the eggs. He leaves a map where they're all hidden and all the children of the village have to go and find them. Whoever finds the most eggs becomes the Easter King or Queen for next year's egg hunt."

"So where is this map?" Roshan felt somebody tap his shoulder. He turned around to see none other than Clint himself.

Clint handed him a map. "Here's a map to all the eggs that I've hidden. Happy Easter." He left in a flash to deliver more maps.

Roshan was shocked. "But...I thought that..."

"He's real, you dummy," Gladys said.

Roshan gave the map to Stephen and Rose. "Happy Easter, you two. Sorry for doubting the both of you."

"Do you wanna hunt eggs with us?" Rose asked.

Roshan was touched. He didn't see any reason why he couldn't. "I don't see why not. As long as it's okay with your parents."

"Of course you can go hunting for eggs with them, Roshan," Brooke said.

"Yay!" Stephen and Rose exclaimed as they started dragging Roshan with them to go Easter egg hunting.

"I'll keep an eye on them," Roshan said as the three of them headed off.

"Have fun!" Brooke said, "I'm so glad things worked out in the end."

"They always do," Cheril said.

And so it became another wonderful Easter for the herd and everyone hopes to have many more amazing ones in the future.

 **HAPPY EASTER**

 **CAST:**

 **ELLIE...QUEEN LATIFAH**

 **SHIRA...JENNIFER LOPEZ**

 **BROOKE...JESSIE J**

 **SNOW BELLE...SELENA GOMEZ**

 **LAURENCE...DRAKE BELLE**

 **PEACHES...KEKE PALMER**

 **JULIAN...ADAM DEVINE**

 **JUNIOR...KIRBY MORROW**

 **STRIPES...MICHAEL ADAMTHWAITE**

 **GLADYS...WANDA SYKES**

 **EARNEST...TYLER PERRY**

 **LOUIS...JOSH GAD**

 **BETHANY...ARIANA GRANDE**

 **MANNY...RAY ROMANO**

 **DIEGO...DENIS LEARY**

 **SID...JOHN LEGUIZAMO**

 **BUCK...SIMON PEGG**

 **SCRAT...CHRIS WEDGE**

 **SCRATTE...KAREN DISHER**

 **TEDDY...MICHAEL STRAHAN**

 **TERRIE...JENNIFER ANNISTON**

 **CRASH...SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT**

 **EDDIE...JOSH PECK**

 **CHERIL...VICTORIA JUSTICE**

 **ROSHAN...VINCENT TONG**

 **RICARDO...ANTONIO BANDERAS**

 **SETH GREEN...SQUINT**

 **BLAKE ANDERSON...CLINT**

 **REESE WITHERSPOON...JANE**

* * *

 **WASN'T THAT AN EGG-CELLENT ADVENTURE?**

 **LOVE PUNS. THAT'S WHY I USED IT.**

 **WELL, I HOPE YOU LOVED THIS STORY.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW.**

 **HAPPY EASTER!**


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